Roy Halladay Retires with Toronto Blue Jays

Two-time Cy Young winner Roy Halladay will sign a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and retire with the franchise where his 16-year career began back in 1998.

The Blue Jays confirmed the news on the team's Twitter account:

The Philadelphia Phillies also wished Halladay the best upon his retirement, via the team's Twitter account:

Teammate Chase Utley also took the time to praise Halladay's work ethic, discussed how fierce of a competitor he was and implied how much it would all be missed, per the Philadelphia Daily News' Ryan Lawrence:

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com broke the news on Monday, praising the 36-year-old right-handed ace for leaving a big mark on the league:

Ryan Lawrence of Philly.com provided an image of the podium for Halladay's announcement:

Kevin M. Calpin of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network passed along an image of Halladay and his family before the press conference:

Halladay is also an eight-time All-Star. He played his first 12 years in the league for the Blue Jays before Toronto traded him to the Phillies, giving him a chance at a World Series ring.

In his postseason debut, the towering 6'6" "Doc" thew a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in 2010—just the second no-hitter in playoff history. That added to a perfect game he threw earlier in that regular season against the Marlins.

Unfortunately, the championship never materialized for Halladay, and after displaying remarkable consistency and apparent indestructibility for the majority of his playing days, he began to break down toward the end.

Just in 2011, Halladay won 19 games and posted an ERA of 2.35, but it all went south from there. The 2012 campaign saw Halladay's ERA balloon to 4.49. A strained shoulder in late May of that season plagued him and landed him on the disabled list.

He is coming off his worst MLB season in years for the Phillies, making just 13 starts in 2013 and posting a 4-5 record with a 6.82 ERA, suggesting the wear and tear of pitching in the big leagues finally caught up to him.

Halladay underwent surgery in mid-May to repair a myriad of problems in his right pitching shoulder—a partially torn rotator cuff, a frayed labrum and bone spurs.

While Halladay did have arm issues, he said it was his back, not his arm, that led to his retirement, via Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports:

A positive trend toward the end in September suggested that Halladay might come back, but it wasn't meant to be.

In any event, Passan considers Halladay a Hall of Famer:

Halladay will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2019, since he will have been retired for five full seasons and played at least 10 in the big leagues, per BaseballHall.org. If he doesn't get in on the first time around, the ace is sure to stir some debate in subsequent years with his credentials.

For his career, Halladay compiled a 203-105 record with a 3.38 ERA, 2,117 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.18.